Three-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence champion Matt Crafton solely has two profession Cup Sequence begins, curiously all coming in substitute obligation. That can proceed on Sunday as he takes over the #51 Ford Mustang from Cody Ware, who has a private state of affairs to take care of because the Cup Sequence heads to the Bristol Motor Speedway Filth Race.
“Cody Ware will step away from racing this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway to concentrate on a private matter,” reads a press release from Rick Ware Racing. “Matt Crafton will drive the No. 51 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing. Crafton has greater than 500 overall-starts in his NASCAR profession, successful back-to-back NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence championships in 2013 and 2014.
“The Ware household asks that their privateness be revered throughout this time.”
Regardless of Crafton’s Truck successes, almost all of his Cup expertise has been in aid obligation relationship way back to 2008 and 2009, when he certified the Cup automobile of Robby Gordon at Dover and Fontana whereas Gordon was respectively competing within the Baja 500 and Baja 1000. 5 years later, he crammed in for Paul Menard and Martin Truex Jr. for Fontana and Michigan qualifying when each had been away on household issues; an much more uncommon substitution occurred at 2014 preseason Daytona testing when he subbed for Menard after a pipe burst on the latter’s home. Crafton has lengthy been sponsored by Menard’s household enterprise Menards, by which he additionally developed ties with Gordon, whereas Truex turned to him as a fellow Toyota driver.
Even when he lastly obtained to see Cup racing motion, all have been as harm substitutes: the 2015 Daytona 500 for Kyle Busch who had damaged his legs, the 2019 fall Talladega race as a mid-race replacement for Menard as he handled neck ache, and that yr’s Martinsville occasion after Matt Tifft was hospitalised for a seizure. The one time Crafton entered a Cup occasion on his personal with out circumstance was in 2014 at Indianapolis when he did not qualify for RAB Racing.
The choice to pick Crafton possible comes because of his expertise, each general contemplating his three Truck Series titles and on grime. He scored top-ten finishes in all seven Truck races at Eldora Speedway from 2013 to 2019 together with a win in 2017, whereas putting fourteenth and ninth in two Bristol Filth occasions. Crafton additionally has late mannequin and off-road racing expertise.
Ware is presently thirty-first in Cup factors with a greatest end of fourteenth on the Daytona 500. In the meantime, Crafton sits fifth within the Truck standings.
